Call centers and interactive voice response (IVR) units are widely used in many industries for providing various services for customers over the telephone. A typical call center includes a number of agents who field inbound telephone calls and/or place outbound telephone calls. Each agent has an associated station that includes a personal computer or workstation and a telephone. The agent may field inbound calls, such as 800 number calls, from potential or current customers seeking service over the telephone. An IVR unit is a computer that uses a digitized human voice to provide information to and/or obtain information from a caller. For example, when a caller calls an airlines company for flight information, an IVR unit typically responds by giving the caller one or more menus of information options, such as flight departure and flight arrival information, and then provides the desired information when the caller selects the desired option by pushing one of the telephone keys.
With the proliferation of call centers and IVR units, telephone calls are more frequently transferred between call centers and IVR units. A caller may reach an IVR unit and input information regarding the services or information desired by the caller. The IVR unit may then determine that the caller needs to be serviced by a particular call center and will transfer the caller to that call center. For example, the caller calling an airlines company may desire to speak to a reservations agent to obtain a flight reservation and to the frequent flyer department to determine whether the caller has sufficient frequent flyer miles to receive a free flight. The IVR may forward the call to the call center for reservations, and after making the flight reservation, the reservations agent may forward the caller from the reservations call center to the frequent flyer call center.
When a caller is transferred, the caller typically must repeat information. The need to repeat information can occur for transfers between an IVR unit and a call center agent, from one call center agent to another, and from one call center to another. Requiring the caller to repeat previously provided information, the duration of the call is longer and call charges are greater. In addition, the caller is inconvenienced, which may produce or increase customer dissatisfaction. Moreover, the chances for error are greater because the same information is collected multiple times.